Eco-Judaism: Is There Any Other Kind?! How Torah Pushes the Sustainability Envelope 8 Pages of Resources, Assembled by R

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Eco-Judaism: Is There Any Other Kind?! How Torah Pushes the Sustainability Envelope 8 Pages of Resources, Assembled by R Eco-Judaism: Is There Any Other Kind?! How Torah Pushes the Sustainability Envelope 8 pages of resources, assembled by R. Fred Scherlinder Dobb, of www.adatshalom.net & www.coejl.org for 5777 Global Day of Jewish Learning – updated (see pages 5-6) for Earth Day Yovel, 2020 (Key Themes in Eco-Judaism (rashei p’rakim / shorthand only :א 1. Unity: Seeing the Big Picture -- “One glorious chain of love, of giving and receiving, unites all living .Sh’ma: All is One שְׁמַעָ … אֶחָד .things” (S.R. Hirsch, Ben Uziel 29). M.M. Kaplan and the Gaia Hypothesis 2. The Earth is God’s (Ps. 24:1), Not Ours -- Radical Amazement (AJ Heschel), humility, awareness. Reconcile Ps 24 with Ps 115, through blessings (Ber. 35a-b). See shmita; liberation theology; Deut. 11. 3. Environmental Justice: All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir (Bill Staines) -- Nothing is superflu- ous (Ex R 10:1); creation exists for its own sake, not ours (Rambam Guide 3:13). See Psalms, esp. 104. 4. Social Justice: All God’s Children Deserve Equal Access to Creation -- See Shmita & Yovel (Lev. 25) .adam/ah, Gen. 2); tikkun olam, literally)ָ ה א דם…מִ ן- ה אֲד מהָ ;for integration of social & environmental concern 5. Intergenerational Justice: Thinking on a Divine Time-Scale -- See God’s Thirteen Attributes (Ex 34:6- .(Honi & the carob-planter (Taanit 23a); “Choose Life, for you & progeny” (Deut 30:19 ;נֹצֵ רָחֶסֶ דָל אֲלפִיםָ ,(7 6. Waste Not, Want Not: Bal Tashchit -- Deut. 20:19; “the tree of the field is the life of humanity” (Sifre); to burn less fossil fuel is halachic (Shabbat 67b); waste not “even a mustard seed” (Sefer Hachinuch 529). 7. Limits to Growth: Shabbat – production & consumption, which always come at marginal environmental cost, are not our highest goals – but growth in the realm of the spirit, as with Shabbat, is always sustainable! And these too, per the Sierra Club motto: (get up and walk yourself around the land’ (Genesis 13:17‘ ,קּוםָהִתְׁ הַ לְֵךָב ארֶץָ :Explore .8 (God saw the totality; it was very good (Gn 1:31 ,וַיַרְׁ אָאֱ ֹלהִ יםָאֶ ת- כל-אֲשֶ רָע ש ה,ָוְׁהִ נֵה-טֹובָמְׁ אֹדָ :Enjoy .9 ,[God put the human in the Garden of Eden [1st ecosystem ,וַיַנִחֵ הּוָבְָׁגַן-עֵדֶ ן,ָלְׁע בְׁד ּהָּולְׁשמְׁר ּה :Protect .10 to serve it and to protect it. (others ‘to till and to tend it’, ‘to work and to guard it’ – Genesis 2:15) Taking Eco-Judaism to the Next Level: Challenging Case Studies :ב 1. Human Life Balanced with the Rest of Creation Pikuach Nefesh, saving a human life, is the rare value that usually overrides all other mitzvot. Yet the long-term impacts of climate change, on human and non-human life alike, are now a “pikuach nefesh” concern of their own, since lives are truly in the balance over the long haul. Enter: the goat, from this we“ אין מגדלין בהמה דקה בא"י Talmudic dilemma. Background: the Mishnah (Bava Kama 7:7) says that do not raise small cattle in the Land of Israel.” (Since we may do so in the desert, it seems this prohibition בלבד שלא תצא ותרעה בעדר is about yishuv Eretz Yisrael, the settling of the Land). Rabban Gamliel permits it ”only if they don’t go out and graze with the herd, but are tied to the legs of a bed“ אלא קושרה בכרעי המטה (80a). The concern? -- small cattle “destroy the fields” (Rashi), by grazing close to the ground, and killing the vegetation. See (Bava Kama 80a) what happens when this law conflicts with Pikuach Nefesh: ת"ר מעשה בחסיד אחד שהיה גונח מלבו ושאלו לרופאים ואמרו אין לו תקנה עד שינק חלב רותח משחרית לשחרית והביאו לו עז וקשרו לו בכרעי המטה והיה יונק ממנה משחרית לשחרית Our rabbis taught of this hasid (good person), whose heart groaned; he asked the doctors, who said his only remedy was to drink fresh milk every morning. And they brought him a goat, and tied it to the legs of the bed; and he drank from it every morning. לימים נכנסו חביריו לבקרו כיון שראו אותה העז קשורה בכרעי המטה חזרו לאחוריהם ואמרו לסטים מזויין בביתו של זה ואנו נכנסין אצלו After a while, his friends came in to visit him. When they saw the goat tied up to the legs of the bed, they turned around and said, “armed robbers are in his house, and we should visit him?!” ישבו ובדקו ולא מצאו בו אלא אותו עון של אותה העז ואף הוא בשעת מיתתו אמר יודע אני שאין בי עון אלא עון אותה העז שעברתי על דברי חברי They returned and checked [into his life], and found nothing [wrong] about him except for that one sin of the goat. And even he, at the hour of his death, said: “I know that there is no sin in me, except for the sin of that goat, when I transgressed on the words of my friends.” 2. Human Enjoyment Balanced with Ecological Concern Above, the very life of a human being might not take precedence over the greater environmental good. It’s an open question elsewhere. Look again at bal tashchit, the law protecting fruit trees (Dt. 20:19), based on their yield: this law is partly economic, and partly environmental. Bal tashchit is extended in the Talmud to cover various forms of ‘wanton’ or ‘egregious’ waste and destruction – but defining this is tricky. Today’s eco-challenges often hinge on differences between which destruction seems wanton, and which seems justified. Like: שמואל צלחו ליה תכתקא דשאגא רב יהודה צלחו ליה פתורא דיונה לרבה צלחו ליה שרשיפא וא"ל אביי For Shmuel [when he was sick and“ לרבה והא קעבר מר משום )דברים כ( בל תשחית א"ל בל תשחית דגופאי עדיף לי needed a fire], they chopped up an expensive, drum-shaped stool made of teak. For Rav Yehuda, they chopped up a juniper-wood table. For Rava they chopped up a [wooden] chair. At which point Abaye said to Rava, ‘aren’t you violating bal tashchit?’ He replied, ‘[avoiding the] “needless waste” of my body takes priority for me.’ [i.e. -- to spare a chair, I shouldn’t sacrifice the divine gift of my body].” (Shabbat 129a) אמר רב חסדא האי מאן דאפשר ליה למיכל נהמא דשערי ואכל דחיטי קעבר משום בל תשחית ואמר רב פפא האי מאן Rav Hisda said: ‘one“ דאפשר למישתי שיכרא ושתי חמרא עובר משום בל תשחית ולאו מילתא היא בל תשחית דגופא עדיף who is able to eat barley bread, but instead eats wheat bread [which costs more and takes more resources to grow], is violating bal tashchit.’ Rav Papa said: ‘one who is able to drink beer, but instead drinks wine [which is harder to grow and more expensive], is violating bal tashchit.’ But this is not what matters most – [avoiding the] ‘needless waste’ of one’s own body takes priority.” (Shabbat 140b) [wheat was deemed more nutritious than barley (Peah 8:5), so Rav Hisda meant: “one should eat barley bread rather than wheat bread, so long as one does not neglect one’s own body in so doing.” (David Stein in Waskow, Torah of E., 1:100)] רב חסדא כד הוה מסגי ביני היזמי והגא מדלי להו למאניה אמר זה מעלה ארוכה וזה אינו מעלה ארוכה “When Rav Hisda had to pass through prickly shrubs and thistles, he used to lift up his garment, saying, ‘this [skin] will heal, but this [garment] would not heal.” (Bava Kama 91b) 3. “Jobs vs. Environment” This truly open-ended Talmudic tale (Bava Metzia 107b-108a) concerns two rabbis, one who owns forested land. It raises vital questions, with no clear answers, worth our deep reflection even today: When are logging or other extractive industries appropriate? How to balance commerce, with protecting nature? How do we use, but limit, ‘eminent domain’? When values conflict, who speaks for the environment?: אמר רב יהודה ארבע אמות דאניגרא לבני אניגרא דאנהרא דכולי עלמא מכריז רבי אמי מלא כתפי נגדי בתרי עברי נהרא Rav Yehuda said: “[a width of] four cubits next to the canal belong to those who live by the קוצו canal; [four cubits] by the river belong to everyone.” Rabbi Ammi announced: “cut down [vegetation or trees] within the shoulder-width of the barge-drawing animals, on both sides of the רבה בר רב הונא הוה ליה ההוא אבא אגודא דנהרא אמרו ליה ניקוץ מר אמר להו קוצו עילאי … ”.river Rabbah bar Rav Huna owned a forest on the banks of the river. They said ותתאי והדר ניקוץ אנא to him, “cut down [the trees within four cubits]”. He said to them, “let those who are above and below me [along the river’s edge be the first to] cut, and after that, I’ll cut.” … רבה בר רב נחמן הוה קא אזיל בארבא חזא ההוא אבא דקאי אגודא דנהרא אמר להו דמאן אמרו ליה דרבה בר רב הונא אמר )עזרא ט( ויד השרים והסגנים היתה במעל הזה ראשונה אמר להו קוצו קוצו Rabbah bar Rav Nachman was traveling in a boat. He saw this forest [of Rabbah bar Rav Huna] on the bank of the river. He said to them, “whose is it?” They said to him, “it belongs to Rabbah bar Rav Huna.” He said, ”the hand of princes and rulers came first in this treachery” [Ezra 9:2 – i.e., it must be the fault of the next-door- אתא רבה בר רב הונא אשכחיה דקייץ אמר מאן קצייה ”!nobles]. He said to them: “Cut it down! Cut it down Rabbah bar rav Huna came and saw that it had been cut down.
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